Things are moving along with the land. Gradually. We'll think we have everything figured out and then find out some new information that causes us to re-evaluate everything. We are still making definite progress, it just isn't what we would consider fast progress.
We want to make sure that everything is done absolutely right at this stage - before the plants go in. Now is when we set up the basis of everything. Specifically, we have been looking at re-contouring the land and draining. How much we can do and what is practical. We are definitely
keeping the dam. (I'm so pleased! It's just so pretty.) However, there are some other little ponds and wet areas on the property that we would like to drain away. We also would like to reshape the hills a bit to make them more tractor friendly/safe. You really do NOT want to be in a tractor driving down anything like an 15 degree slope. Sketchy!
These sort of changes that we make now will determine how much we can plant, what we plant, and even how well the plants will do. Get the drainage wrong and you could find that your vineyard isn't producing as well 5 years down the line. It's money well spent... but, as we are finding, it is also a lot of money. It's hard not to hyper-ventilate when I start looking at how much these various quotes are.
Greg has been spending a lot of time talking with contractors about these various jobs. What we are finding, though, is that there isn't the level of specificity and expertise here that you find in larger grape growing areas. In many cases, we have found that we probably know as much as the contractor that we are talking to... so then we start looking into renting the equipment and doing all or at least part of the job ourselves. It seems I have gotten a job working for a local wastewater engineer that way. I'm going to start doing soil testing and report writing for him - starting with our property.
I knew those Geology classes would come in handy some day!
1 comment:
Sounds like you need an old retired State Trooper to help with navigating land and equipment movement. Is there room at the Inn? Nancy may not like me taking off for such a long period of time and my landlord might drain me of my pension. Help is only a short call away and one round trip airfare. I'll be standing by the tiller until I hear back. Oh, by the way what are we doing with the olive trees.
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